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THE vice chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor Abdul-rasheed Na’Allah has called on the Federal Government to begin the process of evaluating the contributions of Nigerian professors to national development.
Speaking at an interactive session with the media in Abuja to mark his four years in office, Na’Allah said the face of universities in Nigeria must change to become impactful to the society and respond to the development needs of the country.
While answering question on what could be done to refocus universities in Nigeria, he advised that the new administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should introduce a system on how to hold the institutions accountable through performance assessment, particularly the contributions of the professors who have reached the highest level of training
He said that an industry/university relationship is key for Nigerian universities and that the government must insist on it.
He, therefore, called for a performance assessment, saying that “we should be able to state clearly what the university has contributed to the community in the last one year.”
He said: “There must be an assessment of everyone including the food professors; our food professors are not assessed. This new administration can achieve this by requesting that professors both in the public and private universities to contribute to national development.”
Na’Allah, reaffirmed the zero-tolerance for sexual harassment in the university, saying, students have been mandated to report such case directly through the schools’ portals, disclosing that the university had had a cause to expel two academic staff for sexual harassment after the disciplinary committee found them culpable.
The vice chancellor also spoke about the importance of alumni to the development of tertiary education, saying he is exploring ways to actively engage students who have graduated from the university and are doing well to be able to “give”back to the university that made them.
